Date of Award

2012

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

School of Education

Abstract

The structure of Mt 8-9 is very complex, and there is no unanimous understanding. If we use Matthew's Three Stage Progression (MTSP), a writing technique that is found frequently in the gospel of Matthew, we can theologicaly explain the intention of Mt 8-9 more clearly than any other existing explanations. Matthew arranged the nine miracle stories progressively in three clusters (8:1-17; 8:23-9:8; 9:18-34). Those three clusters are divided by two intervening pericopae (8:18-22; 9:9-17). The first cluster describes Jesus as the merciful healing Messiah. Jesus heals every disease he encounters. In the second cluster, Jesus is the divine being who commands the nature and the demons. He even has the authority of forgiving sins. The third cluster closed the miracle narratives by emphasizing the spread of Jesus' news. Here we can conclude that Matthew 8-9 focuses on Christology, using the literary method of revealing Jesus' identity progressivly in three units.

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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